Apparatus for timing clocks and watches



Feb. 17, 1931. E. MAIER APPARATUS FOR TIMING CLOCKS AND WATCHES Filed July 31, 1925 INVENTOR. E'mh Mam.-

Patented Feb. 17, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFlCE ERICK KAIEB,-F SCHWENNING-ON-THE-NECKAR, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN CLOCK COMPANY, OF LA SALLE, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS APPARATUS FOR TIMING CLOCKS AND WATCHES Application filed July 31,

;My invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in timing systems for clocks and watches and has for its object the production of means whereby the hair springs that-are attached to the balances are adjusted independently and outside of the clock or. watch movement and suitably marked so that they can be inserted in a clock or watch movement and when so inserted will properly register and function therewith to cause the movement to produce accurate time. The manufacturers of clocks and watches generally perform this work by using highly skilled labor without the use of any specialappliance and usually after the hair springs and balance wheels are placed in the movement. With my invention this work can be done by unskilled labor and much more expeditiously than previously and in a thor- 20 oughly accurate manner.

I accomplish these results by the means shown in the accompanying drawings in which i r Fig. 1 is a side view of my invention.

Similar numerals represent similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the drawings 1 represents the frame of my apparatus. Mounted on frame 1 is a clock movement indicated at 2 which move- 30 ment is operated by a weight 3 and which movement has the usual balance wheel 4 and a smooth faced wheel 5 having anotch 6 as shown, mounted on a shaft 7 which is journaled similarly to the other shafts in 35 the movement and which carries the usual gear wheel 8 which meshes with and is rotated by the driving wheel 9 of the movement. Mounted adjacent to and pivotally connected to 1 by means of screw 10 is a lever 40' 11 having a projection 12 which registers with the notch 6 in wheel 5. Lever 11 further has a resilient member 13 fastened to it which contacts with the balance wheel 4 of the movement. It is evident from the above 45 description and the drawing that when the left hand end of lever 11 is raised upwardly so that projection 12 is raised out of notch 6 above mentioned that member 13 will be away from the balanoewheel 4 which will 5o permit the movement 2 to run until wheel 5 'sulated piece 26 fastened to frame 1 and 1925. Serial No. 47,271.

has made one complete revolution and projection 12 drops into the notch. 6, when 13 will contact with the balance wheel 4 stopping its motion, Lever 11 has a vertical projecting member-'14 which has .an adjustable screw 15 electrically insulated from 14 and fitted through it and nut 16 for lockingsame in position. Said screw 15 actuates one end 17 of a spring 18 which is fastened adjacent to frame 1 at 19 as shown, to bring spring 17 (which is normally held away from contact 20 "by its own resiliency) against the contact 20 of an electrical circuit 21 from binding 0st 22 which is connected to one side of a suitable electrical battery or other electrical current supply, whenever lever 11 has its projection 12 in notch 6 of wheel 5, (in the position shown in the drawing).

Lever 11 further has a similarly insulated or nonconducting point 23 which when lever 11 is raised as above described will touch spring 18 upwardly and bring its conducting piece 24 up into electrical contact with screw 25 which is also threaded into an in- 75 locked into position by means of lock nut 27, said screw 25 being in electrical circuit by means of extension wire 28 connected to 21 as shown.

' Lever 11 has an extension 29' which has a screw 30 fastened to it on which is pivotally mounted one end of a lever 31 whose lower end hasa slotted aperture '32 into which is slidably mounted a screw .33 which is fastened to a pawl 34, which pawl 34 is pivotall mounted on a screw 35 which is fastene toan arm 36 projecting from lever 37, which lever 37 is pivotally mounted on a screw or pin 38 which is fastened on 1. Adjacent to and placed so that it can be actuated by pawl 34 is a'ratchet wheel 39 mounted on a shaft 40 suitably journaled on 1 and forming a part of the usual counting device having adial 41 and a pointer 42 which is actuated by gears 43and 44 in the usual manner. Ratchet 39 has an additional pawl 45 pivoted on a screw 46 fastened to 1 and resiliently held into contact with the ratchet teeth by means of a spring 47 as shown, the purpose of said pawl 45 being to 100 that said pawl engages said ratchet teeth and as is usual in. such counting devices pushes the ratchet wheel forward one tooth at each forward movement of said pawl 34 caused by the lever 37 which has a steel armature 48 fastened to it, being attracted by the core 49 of an electromagnet 5O mounted on 1 as shown, whichelectromagnet is electrically connected to a wire 51 which terminates in the binding post 52. Lever 37 is resiliently held away from the magnet core by means of a spring 53 against an adjustable stop screw 54 fitted into a member 55 mounted on 1, said screw 54 being securely held in position by means of the lock nut 56. Adjustably mounted in the upper end of lever 37- is a screw 57 which is locked in osition by means of a locknut 58.

jacent to screw 57 is a resilient member 59 fastened to a lever 60 which is pivotally mounted on a screw 61 fastened to frame 1 as shown. Adjacent to lever 60 and just above screw 61 is an adjusting screw! 62 which is threaded into a part 63 which is fastened to 1 and said screw 62 is held in position by means of a locknut 64 and screw 62 limits the motion of lever 60 and lever 60 is normally held to it by means of the spring 65 attached to it and to 1 as shown.

Adjustably fastened in lever 60 but electri-- cally insulated therefrom is a screw 66 having a contact point 67 and locked in position by means of the locknut 68, which locknut 68 also holds the end of the wire 69 which electrically connects point 67 with the spring 18 above mentioned, which is also electrical 1y insulated from 1 as above described.

Mounted on lever 60 is a bent sprin 70 whose upper and is free to vibrate and w ich has fastened to it two pins 71 and 72 between which passes one end of the hair spring 73, one end of which is fastened to the balance staff 74 of the balance wheel 75, which lower 7 end of balance staff 74 is of conical shape and rests in a socket in part 76 which is fastened to frame 1. The other end of hair spring 73 is adjustably clamped by means of suitably shaped jaws 78 and 79, the jaw 78 being pivoted to jaw 79, which jaw 79 is fastened to a projection 80 from a'member 4 81 which is mounted on 1. Slidably mounted I in 81 is a member 82 whose lower end has a conical socket 83 which registers" with the upper conical end of balance staff 74. The lower end of jaws 78 and 79 can be of any suitable shapes that will produce a mark on hair spring 73 when pressure is applied across said jaws and the lower ends of the said jaws are held clamped on said spring 73 by means of a spring 84 between the jaws.

The spring is electrically connected with wire 51 by means of the wire 85 and the electroma et 50 so that an electrical current coming in binding post 52 will travel along wire 51 around electromagnet 50, thence wire 85, then. the spring 70, which when it is pressed against contact point 67 (as will be explained below) the current will then travel through screw 66, thence through wire 69, thence to spring 17 (which connects with spring 18) and thence in the position of the mechanism shown in the drawing, to contact point 20, to wire 21 and binding post 22, which makes one complete electrical circuit and which for convenlence will be called the starting position circuit. When the left hand end of lever 11 is elevated and point 23 upper ends of said passes spring 18 upwar'd until contact point 1 24 contacts with screw 25, permitting the current to wire 28 to sprung away from contact 20 because of the corresponding right hand motion of projection 14 from lever 11, and for convenience this, when the current passes thus from binding post 52 to post 22, will be called the operating circuit. Projection 86 from lever turningit with the operators finger and as it reciprocate's the upper coil of the hair spring 73 is ex anded or enlarged so that" the hair spring 3 strikes the pin 71 pushing the s ring 70 until it contacts with contact point 6 7 thus completing or closing the electrical starting position circuit as above mentioned and energizing the electromagnet50 which draws the armature 48 to core 49 and moving lever 37 so that itspoint 57 strikes 59 actuating lever 60, causing its upper end to move to the right and causing spring 70 and its pin 71 to press on the now ready to contract upper coil of the hair spring 73 and imparting some of its energy to the-spring to keep up the further reciprocations of the balance wheel until the spring 70' is finally pulled away (by the contraction or further closing pass through it and thence through wire 21, the spring 17 having been both mounted on a balance staff,

when the lever 37 and lever 60 is eachagain returned to its normal position and pin 72 on spring 70 engages the inside of the coil of the hairspring 73 and assists in expanding the said upper coil, thereby also giving an impulse to keep the balance wheel recipro eating. As the balance wheel now is regu larly reciprocating, the operator raises the left hand end of lever 11 until its projection,

12 comes out of the notch 6 of wheel 5, which, as above described, causes the electrical operating circuit to be completed through spring 18 and contact point 25 and puts the pawl 34 into operative engagement with ratchet wheel 39 all as above described and causing the reciprocations of the balance wheel 75 to be recorded on the counting device 41 until wheel 5 has made one' complete revolution and projection 12 of lever 11 drops into the notch 6 as above described and the position of the pointer 42 on the dial 41 of the counting device will indicate the number of reciprocations of the balance wheel and the end ofthe hair spring 73 can be moved in the jaws 78 and 79 accordingly and the opera tion above described can be repeated until the pointer 42 indicates the proper number of reciprocations, when the jaws 78 and 79 can be pressed together by means of atongs to mark the ha1r spring where it should be pinned in the clock or watch movement in the usual manner practised in the art.

It will be understood of course that while I have here shown one form of my invention I do not wish to limit myself to the exact form shown, but wish to have it taken in sense illustrative of any and all forms of my apparatus that come fairly within the scope of my claims.

I claim 1. In an apparatus for timing clocks, mechanism for measuring a definite period of time, a counting device associated therewith,'means for pivotally mounting a balanced member having a hairspring attached thereto with means for adjustably holding the other end of said hair spring, electromagnetic means co-operatively connected with said hair- 'spring and said counting device associated with means, for starting and stopping said mechanism and said counting device.-

2. In an apparatus for timing clocks, means for measuring a definite period of time, elec tric circuit controlling devices associated therewith, a counting device co-operatively connected therewith in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto with means for holding the free end of said hair spring, and electro-magnetic means coacting with said hair spring to reciprocate said balance wheel and actuate said counting device.

3. an apparatus for timing clocks, means for measurlng a defimte period of time, electrlc circuit controllingdevlces aseratively connected therewith in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto,"

with'means for adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring, and electro-magnetic means co-acting with said hair-spring to reciprocate said balance wheel and actuate said counting device.

4. In an apparatus for timing clocks, 'a clock movement,- a cam actuated by said movement, means associated with said cam for starting and stopping said movement, electrical circuit controlling mechanisms actuated by said means, a counting device co-operatively connected with said starting and stopping means in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto, means adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring, and means coacting with said hair spring to actuate said balance wheel and with said starting and stopping means to actuate said counting device.

5. In an apparatus for timing clocks, a clock movement, a cam actuated by said movement, means associated with said cam for starting and stopping said movement, electrical circuit controlling mechanisms actuating a hair spring attached thereto, means for adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring, and electro-magnetic means co-acting with said hair spring to actuate said balance wheel and with said starting and stopping means to actuate said counting device.

'6; In an apparatus for timing clocks, a clock movement, a cam actuated by said movement, a lever associated with said cam, electrical circuit controlling mechanisms actuated by said lever, a counting device co-operatively connected with said lever in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto, means for adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring,'and electro-magnetic means co-acting with said hair spring to actuate said balance wheel and with said lever to actuate said counting device.

7. In an apparatus for timing clocks, a

clock movement, a cam actuated by said movement, a lever for starting and stopping said movement associated with saidcam, elecfree end of said hair spring, and electromagnetic means co-actively connected with said hair spring to reciprocate said balance cuit controlling devices wheel and with said lever to actuate said counting device.

8. In an apparatus for timing clocks, mechanism for measuring a definite period of time, means associated therewith for starting and stopping said mechanism, electrical circuit controlling devices actuated by said means, a counting indicator co-operatively connected therewith in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto, with means for adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring, and electro-magnetic means co-acting with said hair-spring to reciprocate said balance wheel and with said startin' and stopping means to actuate said countmg indicator.

9. In an apparatus for timing clocks, mechanism for measuring a definite period of time, means associated therewith for starting and stopping said mechanism, electrical ciractuated by said means, a counting indicator co-operatively connected therewith in combination with means for pivotally mounting a balance wheel having a hair spring attached thereto, with means for adjustably holding the free end of said hair spring, and means co-acting with said hairspring to reciprocate said balance wheel and with said starting'and stop-' said counting indicaping means .to actuate tor. I

10. In a timing device having means for mounting a balance wheel with a hair spring attachedassociated with means for retaining mechanism which is actuated by said hair spring associated with said electromagnetic means in combination with a counting means and co-operatively associated means for simultaneously starting and stopping said time measuring means and counting means in rela-' tion to said electrical contacting mechanism.

12. In a timing device having means for mounting a balance wheel with a hair spring attached associated with means for retaining the hair spring in'adjusted position, means for measuring a definite period tromagnetic means, mechanism which is spring associated with said electromagnetic of time, elecelectrical contacting means pring actuated by said hair means in combination with a counting means and co-operatively associated means for simultaneously starting and stoppingsaid time measuring means and counting means in relation to said electromagnetic means and said electrical contacting mechanism.

ERICH MAIER. 

